Colorectal Cancer Testing
If you are concerned about colorectal cancer then getting screened is the best course of action. Early and regular screening has been shown to be our best defense against colorectal cancer.
Fecal Occult Blood Test or Stool Test
For ths test, you receive a test kit from your doctor or health care provider. At home, with your fingers, you put a piece of your stool on a test card. You do this for three bowel movements in a row. Then you return the test cards to the doctor or a lab. The stool samples are checked for blood. However, colorectal cancer isn't always bleeding, and sometimes it's an internal hemorrhoid and not cancer that is bleeding, so this test is not the most reliable test, to say the least -- and just think about how messy it is. False positives sometimes occur and when they do, the patient has to go in for a colonoscopy anyway, often just to find out that there was a false alarm.
Recommended Testing Frequency: This test should be done every year.
Flexible Sigmoidoscopy
Your doctor may or may not be able to perform this test in their office, and so may have to send you to a specialist. For this test, the doctor puts a thin, flexible, lighted tube into your rectum. The doctor checks for polyps or cancer inside the rectum and lower third of the colon. The problem is that this test doesn't look at your entire colon, only one-third (33%) of it. So what if the cancer is in the other two-thirds (66%) of your colon that they didn't look at? Well, they aren't going to find it in places they aren't looking.
Recommended Testing Frequency: This test is usually done every 5 years.
Fecal Occult Blood Test Plus Flexible Sigmoidoscopy
Your doctor may ask you to have both tests. Some experts believe that by using both tests, there is a better chance of finding polyps or colorectal cancer.
Colonoscopy
Your doctor may send you to a specialist for this procedure. The specialist will perform this test in a medical facility. This test is similar to flexible sigmoidoscopy, except the doctor uses a longer, flexible, lighted tube which is inserted up through your anus and into the rectum and colon to check for polyps or cancer inside the rectum and the entire colon. During the test, the doctor can find and remove most polyps and some cancers. Colonoscopies on the other hand, are invasive and go inside your body. They are done in the hospital or doctor's offices and require medical staff. The patient is typically sedated. Colonoscopy is the standard of care.
Recommended Testing Frequency: This test is usually done every 10 years. Colonoscopy may also be used as a follow-up test if anything unusual is found during one of the other screening tests.
Double Contrast Barium Enema
This test is an x-ray of your colon. You are given an enema with a liquid called barium. Then the doctor takes an x-ray. The barium helps the doctor to see the outline of your colon on the x-ray to check for polyps or other abnormalities.
Recommended Testing Frequency: This test is usually done every 5-10 years.